Frank zappa as guitarist.

I absolutely love Zappa! Do you know that he actually wrote music that could not be played on any instrument. I think he would have made a great US president. Very, very smart man.

i certainly feel Zappa was a great lyrasist, albeit an insane one. However, i think his writing overshaddows his guitar playing which at times is amongst the best i have ever heard blessed be

I am not knocking Zappa but before you say he was a great guitarist you need to know who was playing that instrument at the time. He did have Steve Vai and Joe Satriani playing with him at different times. These are 2 of the best guitarists ever. So it is good to know who was playing what you are hearing. I do think he is a great guitar player and under rated. I saw him perform on Saturday Night Live and he did a great job. As for his lyrics. LOL You have to admit a lot of it was silly. But I do think some of it was good. I like Joe's Garage. It is a song that takes me back to times when I was jamming in the garage or basement with friends. I am also working on a modern version of it with new music. Some of his stuff is not for the masses.

Personally I think he was THE BEST guitar player that ever was, or even is. There ARE a few REALLY, REALLY good, if not great, guitar players out there today, but no one does & can do what ole Frank did. He was also one of the best songwriters, lyrics & music, to ever grace this planet. Shel Silverstein, & Arlo Guthrie are the only ones who come close. (I'm referring to the funny, story type songs.)

Anyone who underrated Frank Zappa at anything he did musically simply was not paying close enough attention. All the best musicians wanted to play with him. That says enough about the man and artist.

Zappa is definitely one of the more underrated guitar greats. His approach to guitar playing is unique. People appreciate his songwriting more though but I think if he were to choose, he'd like it that way also. He has a lot to say, and it just so happens that music is his medium. :) Almost all of the musicians who played for him are now monsters on their instruments, and they have Zappa to thank for that. He opened new doors for them --- demolished the barriers that restrict music. :) That alone is testimony that apart from being a genius songwriter, he was also an unbelievably talented musician and guitarist. :)

I think he's good, but he also had other people playing on his albums, so I was never sure how much of the guitar I was hearing was his. His style was definitely distinctive. Bobby Brown... a friend introduced me to that one and we used to sing lyrics from it and laugh about it all the time. I also like the whole husky dog saga on 'Apostrophe.'

Frank Zappa was just a musical genius. I think that he was a better songwriter than guitar player, but he excelled at both.